Inter-personal communications encompass all types of unicast communications, i.e. referring to FIG. 1a, direct communications C(1,2) between two terminals T1 and T2.
Inter-personal communications also encompass all multicast communications, i.e. referring to FIG. 1b, communications between several terminals T1, T2, T3 and T4 connected by a unicast connection C(i,E) (i=1, . . . , 4) to a connection termination E such as for example a conference bridge or a multi-point control unit responsible for the mixing and broadcasting of media streams exchanged during a same inter-personal communications session.
As shall be seen here below, the present invention relating to unicast connection C(i,E) can be applied to any unicast communication and hence also to any multicast communication. Such a connection C(i,E) is shown in a generic representation in FIG. 1c which brings into play a terminal Ti, a connection termination E which may be a conference bridge, a multi-point control unit or any other terminal.
There are many systems of inter-personal communications enabling users to exchange media streams from terminals connected by a communications network. Among these, we may cite, for example, the vanilla audio-conferencing system known as AGP (in French “Audio conference grand public”) in the case where the switched telephone network (STN) is used or videophone and other chat systems when the Internet is used to exchange media streams.
Certain of these inter-personal communications systems propose a service for personalizing media streams exchanged during a same session that has been set up for inter-personal communication. This service, implemented during a step known as a media stream personalizing step enables a user to enhance communication with other users by inserting, for example, sound effects or audio jingles making the exchange of streams between users more attractive.
FIG. 2 is a diagram of a system SYS1 for the exchange of media streams during an inter-personal communication session S according to the prior art, in this case the known audio conferencing system using the STN network called “3621 Rendez-vous par téléphone” (telephone appointment) by France Telecom. The system SYS1 comprises a connection termination E, in this case a conference bridge to which there are connected three terminals T1, T2 and T3, in this case telephones. A user i exchanges an audio stream F1 with the other users through the terminal T1 which sends this stream to a communications unit CU of the connection termination E in charge of broadcasting this stream to the terminals T2 and T3. During the broadcasting of the stream F1, the user i selects an activation command A(k) by keying in a sequence of DTMF digits through the keyboard of the terminal T1. The terminal T1 then sends the activation command A(k) to the connection termination E. Upon reception of the activation command A(k), the personalizing step implemented by the communications unit CU starts by determining the audio jingle J(m) corresponding to the activation command A(k). To this end, a program execution unit PU compares the activation command A(k) with each of the activation commands of a personalization table defining at lest one association between at least one activation command A(k) and an audio jingle J(m). The personalization table is stored in a memory AM comprising the connection termination E. Once determined, the jingle J(m) associated with the activation command A(k) is retrieved from a memory DM of the connection termination E by means of the program execution unit PU which then mixes the jingle J(m) with the stream F1 being broadcast. The resulting stream F′1 is then sent to the terminals T2 and T3 so that the other users taking part in the audio-conferencing section S can hear the stream F′1 thus personalized.
A step such as this for personalizing the media streams exchanged during a same inter-personal communications session is generally implemented at the connection termination E (conference bridge or multi-point control unit). Consequently, the setting up or updating of the personalizing service necessitates modifications in the connection termination E so that it can support the personalizing service or an updating of this service. These modifications prove most often to be financially very costly because of the substantial hardware and software resources implemented by this connection termination to support the broadcasting of streams.
Furthermore, such a step for personalizing media streams does not allow a user to define his own activation commands or his own personalization program. Thus, the associations connecting or linking an activation command to a personalization program are determined by the service provider and are therefore identical for all the users of a same inter-personal communications session. It is therefore not possible to speak of a genuine service for personalizing media streams. A personalizing service of this kind, which should be more attractive for a user, would consist in allowing each user to determine his own activation commands and his own programs.